La Chupacabra of the Sonora

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La Chupacabra of the Sonora

Post by Steve Plonk » November 19th, 2011, 3:31 pm

LA CHUPACABRA OF THE SONORA

By Steve Plonk


Jorge Tampico’s fiance , Mariam, raises “ghostdance orchids” in her greenhouse on her desert property near Puerto Penasco, or Rocky Point, Mexico. She invited Jorge, Gordo and his family down to her place near the coast in the sonoran desert. Mariam was taking time off from a local pharmacy and wanted company to spend time with during the Festival of the Dead.

Puerto Penasco, Mexico, is located on the Gulf of California not too far from Sonoyta, Mexico and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. It is a beautiful high altitude desert with mostly scrub, cactus, mesquite and grasslands. The sonoran desert gets more rainfall than areas both to the east of it and to the west of it—suprisingly getting 19 inches of rainfall per year.

Puerto Penasco was spoken of in a glowing e-mail, along with wonderful pictures, which were sent him when his friend, Jorge, told Gordo about Mariam’s place. Mariam Deloroso inherited her spread from her father and mother who died in a private plane crash.

“Come on down, it’ll give you, Gordo, and your wife, Carla ,some time away from the kids and you can kick back, like last year, and enjoy the nightlife in our Mexican coastal town.” Jorge Tampico primed him on the phone.

“I’ll ask my wife, Carla, if she wants to come.” Turned out, Carla just needed some time for herself and his kids and decided to stay home and get a vacation from Gordo. While waiting for the divorce to come through, Carla had decided to do nothing very slowly at home on a separate vacation. All at the usual time around Halloween.

So, Gordo went down, by himself, to Puerto Panasco by plane and bus and arrived at the Mirador Motel, one of the quaintest and oldest hotels in Puerto Panasco. Gordo was ready for a “large time” down on the coast of the Gulf of California. This place was getting to be more popular than Nogales, Mexico, about thirty-five miles northeast, from Sonoita! Taking a tourbus from Sonoita and arriving October 31st, Gordo was excited about the “Festival of the Dead”, worn and frazzled, but upbeat.

“Oh, oh, oh yeaahhh!” Gordo exclaimed, after he hit the street. The salty coastal desert air hit his face like it was going out of style. He checked in and the desk clerk was a foxy lady, named Rita, an old flame, with smooth “coppertone” skin, and long black hair, who got him a second floor room overlooking the street on the old balcony. Soon, Gordo would be giving Jorge a phonecall and getting a ride over to Mariam’s place. The next few nights would be spent on Mariam’s spread, in the desert just outside of town. Would it be as good as last year?



-Page 2-

Gordo had a bit of “jet lag” and decided to take a nap after calling Jorge. He set his travel alarm and fell into a deep sleep. The radio was playing softly on the bedside stand.

Meanwhile, later on that evening, before Gordo awakened, a letter arrived in care of the motel for Gordo from his wife, Carla.

Gordo was rudely awakened by a noisy news bulletin and a simultaneously knock on the door by the maid. The maid announced “housekeeping” in both Spanish and English. The nearby Sonoyta, Mexico radio interrupted a distant Sells, AZ, playing of “Hurt” sung by Johnny Cash. A news bulletin was broadcast about the animal mutilations and sightings of a creature called “La Chupacabra” near there, and in the Sonoran desert near Puerto Penasco.

“Come in!” exclaimed Gordo, who realized he had forgotten to put up the” do not disturb” sign. The maid entered and said that she had a letter for him entrusted to her by the desk clerk: “Es important!” The letter was marked urgent and was from his wife.

“Probably, the final divorce papers…”Gordo said, as he opened it…”Do you mind, stepping out for a minute while I read it?” Sure enough, it was the final divorce papers and he was required to sign them in front of a witness. I guess I’ll need to ask the desk clerk, Rita. He was sleeping in his clothes, so he just put on his shoes and went downstairs. The maid continued in and cleaned the room and remade the bed.

By this time, the little chime clock at the motel desk rang 6:30 p.m.
“Excusez, Rita, old friend, do you know where there is a notary public around here? Rita took out a little sign saying “notary public” and said she was one.

“I need you to witness my signature on these divorce papers for the court in Chattanooga.” Rita got out her stamp, etc. and read the papers after he signed them and put her signature on the bottom with the stamp, etc. and typed up the appropriate dates.

“You are in luck, senor, the last mail goes out a seven o’clock.” Rita volunteered.,”Let me see if you have enough postage. We also send out the mail and provide mexican and american postage stamps for tourists.” She weighed the letter and provided the additional postage. “I am also the branch postal employee around here.”

“Thanks for all your help” Gordo gushed. “You certainly are indispensable around here, at this time!” She rang the bell and the motel courier was already picking up the mail.
Just then, Jorge, drove up and was coming in the door of the lobby.

“Hey, Amigo! Que vas!” Jorge greeted his friend.

“Not much, except I just signed the divorce papers...” Gordo admitted.

-Page 3-

“Hey Jorge, hombre, I heard you gotta party going on tonight at Mariam’s—mind if I show up after my shift is over?” Rita sort of interrupted.

“Sure, you already are invited—the movers, the shakers, the jokers, the tokers! You come right on up! The more, the merrier. Mariam will be glad you came.”

Mariam’s ranch was composed of around 300 acres outside the town about 10 miles away. She had a big gathering for the “Festival of the Dead” every year for her friends and aquaintances.

“Jorge, how many people are coming to this shindig?”

“Well, Gordo, last we counted, including Rita, about fifty.”

“Well, I guess we’ll be on our way. Hopefully, I will be back in time to check out in the morning and spend the rest of the time at the ranch. Are you working in the morning, Rita?”, Gordo inquired.

“No, tomorrow is my day off… Besides, I usually work second shift. I’m off at around 10 p.m.”

“Okay, I’ll leave a note for the morning help for them to expect me to check out at 12 noon.” Gordo scribbles out the note.

“That’ll be fine,” Rita says, taking the note, “See you both at the party!”

“Well, amigo, let’s head out! Jorge , “The party begins at eight-thirty. That will give you, me, and Mariam time to get reacquainted on all the stuff which has happened the past year.”

“All right, then, let’s hit it”Gordo says as they go out the door.

They drive through the strip on the beach past the welcome sign and out into the desert prairie past huge organ pipe cacti and mesquite trees and acacia trees with a few late bloomers. Even the mimosa was still blooming. It was quite a beautiful drive as they start to pass the cemetery with dusk starting to fall. People were decorating the graves for the continuing Festival of the Dead. The marigolds were awe inspiring, at the entrance—they were so tall. The candlelight procession was just starting with children carrying the bread of the dead to be left at the graves. Every evening at dusk, during the festival, there is some sort of procession up into the cemetary where families gather to honor their recent dead and ancestors.




-Page 4-


Jorge stops and decides to go up and pay a visit to his family graves and just as he drives in, he and Gordo see Mariam just leaving her folks graves and heading toward their car…

Jorge waves and says “Let’s stay a little while longer while I leave some more marigolds on my family graves near yours” He gets out with Gordo and Mariam exchange smiles and Jorge is back in a minute or two after he leaves the potted flowers and some “bread of the dead”. Then they all get into the car—a mercedes—and head on out to the ranch.

They parked beside the main veranda and the stone steps, and headed into Mariam’s beautiful rancho deluxe. The servants had already gotten the party almost set up and it was around seven o’clock when they sat down to eat some baby ribs and some salad.

By the time, they’d finished, they’d gotten reaquainted with each other and were proposing the first toast of the night with some mescal wine.

“To our families, and may they all find their places in the heavens” Mariam maintained.

“To our families” Jorge agreed.

“To our families” Gordo chinked the glass with his other friends. After the toast, Gordo went into the restroom right down the hall from the dining room and was finishing up combing his hair when he noticed his ears were pointed. He was horrified and combed his long hair differently so the hair would cover the ears.
“What was in that mescal wine?”, he thought to himself.

While Gordo was in the restroom, Rita arrives a little early, in her blue pickup, and has to use the restroom, too. She barges in just as Gordo was finishing combing his hair.

“Do you mind, Rita says, “I gotta tinkle!” She winks at him.

“Go ahead, I’m outta here”, Gordo answers, as he winks back.

He heads back into the large dining room and by this time some other guests have arrived. It is pitch dark outside as it is want to do early out in the far west.
The table has been cleared of the supper dishes and the party food is being wheeled in by the caterers. By the time, he realizes it, after a few more mescals, the party is underway. There is also some punch made with mescal wine and “the recipe” as Mariam calls it. The conversation became a swirl of words and phrases and Gordo becomes confused and groggy. Pretty soon, he sees Rita standing over him as he sinks down into a love seat .

“Are you okay?” Rita asks.

-Page 5-

“I don’t know, it must be something I ate or drank,”Gordo replies wearily. Then, Mariam and Jorge come over and also ask if he is getting sick.

“Perhaps, I should go into one of the bedrooms and lie down for a bit.”

“Let me tend to the other guests,” says Mariam, “while you two help Gordo up and get him into one of the bedrooms.” Which they proceed to do. Jorge then goes back to join the party while Rita lingers behind to take off Gordo’s boots since he is about to pass out. Rita is strangely attracted to him.

“Rita, did you notice anything strange about me?” Gordo is still worried about the appearance of his ears. But he is strongly attracted to Rita in spite of his worries.

“Why, no, why should I,” says Rita, smiling broadly, shaking her long black hair and revealing pointed ears. By this time, Gordo is really getting rather scared but also strangely aroused--and suddenly alert, instead of sick and woozy.

“ I see there is something different about your ears, too.” Gordo blurts out.
“What? You sweet, helpless man…”Rita asks, as she caresses his hair, and begins to
stick her tongue in his ear. Gordo couldn’t answer, he was overcome by his lust and holds her closer to him. They hurriedly undress.
“Perhaps, after the party, we should take the round world back to the motel.” Rita demurs like a temptress. That was not the only “round the world” they would take that night.

After their “bumpugly”, they rejoin the party, much changed, and notice their fellow party-goers have pointed ears too. In addition, Rita and Gordo have some extra huge knobs on their backs. Their fellow partiers get really scared and start to stampede toward the door. The rest leave abruptly and leave the two couples alone. Rita and Gordo start to laugh like maniacs.
Jorge and Mariam are laughing at the stampeding guests because they, too, had a similar
transformation experience.

They all keep laughing as they hear the rest of the guests screech out of the driveway in their various vehicles. Jorge and Mariam explain: the effects are temporary and part of a reaction to “the recipe” of mescaline and tincture of “ghostdance orchids” spiked into the wine and punch. Every year has a different hallucination manifestation.

“Yes,” say Rita and Gordo, all together, “but that does not explain why they were so terrified of US this year. It also doesn’t explain our own fears about your sardonic glee when so many are frightened.”

“Come, now,” Mariam explains,”It’s not like this is your first time with this experience.”
“Yeah, amigos, let’s not be sticks –in- the- mud…”Jorge adds.


-Page 6-

“Okay, we’ll stay for some more punch, and then Rita has offered to give me a ride back to the motel.” Gordo agrees. Rita assents, also. The couple stays until around ten-thirty and then they head to Rita’s blue camper pickup: “La Bamba”.

“Let’s stop at the cemetery on the way back and check it out”, Rita says seductively,
“and finish our “round the world”. By this time she had changed even more.
She looked like a cross between a crocodile, a bat, and a cat—some sort of gargoyle appearance. Gordo looked at himself, in the rearview, and noticed the same transformation about himself. He also noticed that they both had stumps, on their backs, of folded wings!

The candle-lighted cemetery was deserted. They drove up toward Rita’s family plots. Then they parked, got out an old blanket, and Gordo noticed a small mattress was in the back of the pickup camper. They got in the back and Rita insisted on getting on top during their candlelight lovemaking. The moon was full and they heard coyotes howling at the moon as they laughed and hunched. After their love trist, they got out of the blue pickup, held hands, and rose up to meet the moon…

Somehow, according to the police report, Gordo made it back to the Motel Mirador.
He apparently had smashed a window & collapsed into his motel bed & was found there dead the next morning. Gordo’s corpse had green pointed ears and stubs of wings on his back… Rita was found, with similar characteristics, on top of a tree, near the cemetery, also dead. Rita’s bowels were torn open from the inside, as if some sort of gestated parasite had escaped. The pickup camper was found parked in the cemetery. Many sheep in the area had been dissected and drained of blood. There was no trace of Jorge and Mariam. No one ever saw them again. However, the sightings of Chupacabra increased. It made the frightened folks of the little Mexican town, Puerto Penasco, wonder… What if?!

Steve Plonk
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Joined: December 12th, 2009, 4:48 pm

Re: La Chupacabra of the Sonora

Post by Steve Plonk » November 20th, 2011, 2:34 pm

Please take time out of your busy schedules to read my tale of horror and international intrigue... 8)

Steve Plonk
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Joined: December 12th, 2009, 4:48 pm

Re: La Chupacabra of the Sonora

Post by Steve Plonk » December 17th, 2011, 10:46 pm

Kind folks & gentlepeople, "What is this that we see slouching toward Bethlehem?" A tale of macabre intrigue... 8)

Steve Plonk
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Joined: December 12th, 2009, 4:48 pm

Re: La Chupacabra of the Sonora

Post by Steve Plonk » October 8th, 2012, 6:17 pm

Herein is a tale just for Halloween... :)

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goldenmyst
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Re: La Chupacabra of the Sonora

Post by goldenmyst » October 17th, 2012, 10:18 pm

Steve, I love how this starts off sounding so normal and segues into a macabre tale. The ending was incredibly dark and fascinating. And I might add that you descriptions of Mexico were excellent. This is quite an enthralling tale which left an impression on me.

John

Steve Plonk
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Re: La Chupacabra of the Sonora

Post by Steve Plonk » October 27th, 2012, 11:24 am

Thanks,goldenmyst...I've visited that part of Mexico, and was careful
to create a deep background setting...Glad you liked it. 8)

Steve Plonk
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Re: La Chupacabra of the Sonora

Post by Steve Plonk » November 10th, 2012, 11:58 am

Booyah! Others need to discover this seasonal short story... 8)

creativesoul
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Re: La Chupacabra of the Sonora

Post by creativesoul » November 13th, 2012, 2:46 pm

pretty groovy- nice spot for the various fiestas of halloween and 'giorno di morte'= well told- screen play like- thank you
reason is over rated, as is logic and common sense-i much prefer the passions of a crazy old woman, cats and dogs and jungle foliage- tropic rain-and a defined sense of who brings the stars up at night and the sun up in the morning---

Steve Plonk
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Re: La Chupacabra of the Sonora

Post by Steve Plonk » November 15th, 2012, 4:28 pm

Creativesoul, Thanks, glad you appreciated the horror story. Yes, I did have
elements of a screen play in it. Nice that you recognized it. 8)

Steve Plonk
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Joined: December 12th, 2009, 4:48 pm

Re: La Chupacabra of the Sonora

Post by Steve Plonk » April 1st, 2013, 6:31 pm

Read this gothic tale, folks, it comes highly recommended by readers. :)

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